Anyway, Anderson’s take is ultraviolent, ridiculously stupid and kind of a rush. To be sure, if your brain has an “off” switch, you’re well-advised to use it. And the carnage is relentless.

But so is the adrenaline. In the spirit of things, Anderson just puts his foot on the pedal and never hits the brakes, ignoring the typical movie traffic laws such as character interaction and lucid plot development.

When you’ve got a 3 MG-42 8 mm gun on top of your supercharged Ford Mustang GT, who needs ‘em?

“Death Race” is set in 2012. The economy has collapsed, and for a time people are pacified by fights to the death in prison. But like any show that goes on too long, that got old. Then comes Death Race, the creation of hyper-control freak Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen – yes, Joan Allen), who runs Terminal Island. As the name implies, it’s the end of the line, where the baddest of the bad go to rot.

The idea is simple: Death Race is a car race where you win by surviving. In other words, you try to kill your opponents. Drive them off the road, shoot them with the weapons your car is tricked out with, whatever it takes. It’s a national sensation, with tens of millions of viewers watching streaming video.

Ultimately, watching “Death Race” is about as close as an audience can come to playing a video game in the theater. If that sounds like a recommendation, so be it.

<p><b> One and a half stars out of four.</b></p><p>There’s the old joke about why a fellow would hit himself in the head with a hammer.</p><p>Because it feels so good when you stop.</p><p>That pretty much describes the effect of seeing Death Race, director Paul W.S. Anderson’s take on Death Race 2000 – the, er, classic doesn’t really describe it. Cult hit, how about that?</p><p>Anyway, Anderson’s take is ultraviolent, ridiculously stupid and kind of a rush. To be sure, if your brain has an off switch, you’re well-advised to use it. And the carnage is relentless.</p><p>But so is the adrenaline. In the spirit of things, Anderson just puts his foot on the pedal and never hits the brakes, ignoring the typical movie traffic laws such as character interaction and lucid plot development.</p><p>When you’ve got a 3 MG-42 8 mm gun on top of your supercharged Ford Mustang GT, who needs em?</p><p>Death Race is set in 2012. The economy has collapsed, and for a time people are pacified by fights to the death in prison. But like any show that goes on too long, that got old. Then comes Death Race, the creation of hyper-control freak Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen – yes, Joan Allen), who runs Terminal Island. As the name implies, it’s the end of the line, where the baddest of the bad go to rot.</p><p>The idea is simple: Death Race is a car race where you win by surviving. In other words, you try to kill your opponents. Drive them off the road, shoot them with the weapons your car is tricked out with, whatever it takes. It’s a national sensation, with tens of millions of viewers watching streaming video.</p><p>Ultimately, watching Death Race is about as close as an audience can come to playing a video game in the theater. If that sounds like a recommendation, so be it.</p>